Russian won't eat greens

[Raluca_Schachter]

Hello all! I've had my Russian tortoise for more than a week now and she does pretty well in her new home. She's very active, likes to explore and look into everything, roams free on my patio. I give her a variety of lettuce, greens, herbs, plants, flowers; we are both experimenting. So far so good, no health problems or weird poop.
But for the past two days she won't eat greens. She's just crazy about flowers (dandelion, hibiscus, rose petals) and radicchio. Should I go with her instinct and let her just have those or is there something wrong?
Thank you for any inputs!

 

[JoesMum]

Stop giving the flowers and only feed the greens

Your tort may sulk for a few days, but will eat them when hungry!

She can go for a couple of weeks without eating and come to no harm.

Be strong... Your tort is treating her flowers like a child does candy. She can only have them when she's eaten her greens nicely!

 

[RockyMountainMan]

Not sure why we cannot feed them flowers. My tortoises love dandelion flowers. They eat Clover, Hen and chicks, Lettuce and large green leaves as well but I thought some flowers found in their native environment can be good for them.

 

[JoesMum]

You can feed flowers, but if you're trying to stop a tort from only eating flowers they need to be withdrawn completely for a while.

 

[Jacqui]

It's okay for them to eat just the flowers and they could do so for awhile, but if a tortoise gets fixated on just one food item that can lead to many problems further down the road. So it's kinda if you want to break him now or break him in a week or two from his flowers only diet. The good thing is your feeding flowers from more then one type of plant so that's good, plus also the radicchio.

 

[Yvonne G]

Your problem might be the type of "greens" you're offering. For example, herbs are a bit pungent and not too inviting for tortoises to eat.

 

[dmmj]

There is nothing wrong with flowers, but you don't want your tortoise to get hooked on a certain food.

 

[kanalomele]

Rotate what you offer. Even for my hatchlings I will change from day to day what is i n there. A healthy Russian is a hungry Russian. Try more variety even of flowers. Try daylilies, roses, mulberry leaves, grape leaves etc. The more variety the better.

 

[Raluca_Schachter]

THis is fascinating! They behave much like humans! ) Thank you all for the suggestions, this sure helps! I did offer a whole variety of greens, lettuces, (and yes, I noticed she doesn't like herbs after all, although she ate oregano once...) the flowers I could find around, hibiscus and grape leaves..I rotate every day. She might get picky..? lol Plus, I bet there were many plants she probably haven't ever had before, especially because she was captive bred and lived in a tank for a while, partly on "processed food"..!...She has to re-train her taste buds..Maybe she hasn't ever had flowers before and now she can't get enough of them! Anyway, I don't overdo any food and offer a variety and she'll eat whatever she likes best after all from what I offer...But for now I offer the flowers only after she eats other plants.

 

[Jacqui]

THis is fascinating! They behave much like humans! ) Thank you all for the suggestions, this sure helps! I did offer a whole variety of greens, lettuces, (and yes, I noticed she doesn't like herbs after all, although she ate oregano once...) the flowers I could find around, hibiscus and grape leaves..I rotate every day. She might get picky..? lol Plus, I bet there were many plants she probably haven't ever had before, especially because she was captive bred and lived in a tank for a while, partly on "processed food"..!...She has to re-train her taste buds..Maybe she hasn't ever had flowers before and now she can't get enough of them! Anyway, I don't overdo any food and offer a variety and she'll eat whatever she likes best after all from what I offer...But for now I offer the flowers only after she eats other plants.

Thanks like a great plan!